The importance of good supplier relationships

juillet 15, 2014septembre 23, 2015

A lot is said about the importance of good relationships with clients. Less so, the importance of good supplier relationships. In this post we’ll explain some background about our suppliers, how we choose the best and how important it is to us that we look after them.

The importance of a good supplier/client relationship

Wolfestone is committed to good relationships with suppliers because without them, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the quality we do. From our linguists, to technology providers and business service providers, we are thankful for the hard work they put in, and we try to look after them. Building lasting relationships with our suppliers is as important to us as building lasting relationships with our customers. One is pointless without the other!

We are well aware that certain agencies in the industry do not take this attitude and as a result they struggle to recruit and maintain key resources, as a result they lose customers as they cannot provide consistent quality.

What we do to create strong supplier relationships

Over the years we have worked on putting measures in place to secure strong supplier relationships.

Payment on time every time, our accounts team pay every supplier on or before the 14th of the month without fail. Our system automatically creates invoice statements which they confirm are correct and payment is processed immediately. On-time payments are even one of our KPIs.

Translator newsletter – every quarter we send out a translator newsletter letting them know our news but also providing them with useful industry information and resources, which keeps them up to date on the latest translation issues.

Translator of the quarter – our project managers nominate and vote for 1 translator of the quarter, someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty for us and deserves some recognition for it.

Listening to what they need and responding promptly. We train our people to value relationships with suppliers and respond to their questions and queries as quickly as they would to a client. As a result we constantly get feedback from our suppliers that they love working with our people and never struggle to get timely answers.

When we work with clients we see it as a partnership. Working with suppliers is no different and the business benefits are clear.

How do you show your suppliers you care? What are your experiences with suppliers?